We're all stories in the end
by dontstopbelieving123
Summary: After returning from her last adventure with her now late mother, River takes control of their baking shop ready for things to get back to normal. Well as normal as things can be, now these days.
1. Chapter 1

"I'll be there soon I promise" I muttered into my shoulder as I held my phone against it with my head, while I took some cupcakes out of the oven.

"Don't rush, he's not supposed to be in yet. You remember where I told you to hide them right?" my friends voice advised me. I nodded accidentally and dropped my phone to the ground making me shutter at the crashing sound it made.  
"Schnitzel" I muttered under my breath as I leaned down to get it. The fire alarm went off in the shop suddenly, from the oven being left open, making my temper rise just a bit for a moment as the robotic voice began to annoyingly mutter.  
"Fire, Fire" I quickly picked up my phone and slammed the oven door shut.  
"Give me a moment" I told my friend in the calmest voice I could manage, and put the phone down on the counter, as I went to go wedge a couple windows open and turned on several fans. I shivered at the sudden amount of cold air in the room but finally after a minute or so the alarm went silent. There's nothing that makes you feel more frantic the a fire alarm going off.

"Anyways, you were saying?" I asked as I picked up my phone again.  
"You ok over there?" I heard her chuckle.

"I'm fine, the fire alarm is just my worst enemy. Plus I love how it shouts that there's a fire going on, because obviously I wouldn't know that was going on if it was going off" I joked sarcastically. She laughed at the comment.  
"Thanks so much for doing this though" she sighed.  
"Don't mention it, it is my job and you made an order. Just as long as you pay me back with something good like...brownies with peanut butter. Together not separate" I told her.  
"Glad you were specific on that"  
"Well I will frost these and then deliver them. So have a good day you" I told her.  
"You too" she answered back and I hung up. With a yawn I set back to my work of finishing them up and quickly stacked in this special container owned just for cupcake deliveries. The only downside to it is that you have to carry it with both hands so you have absolute no chance of being able to complete any other task while holding it. I was lucky to hobble out of the shop and lock door behind me, without any slips, as I made my way to the car. There was a bark from up above that caught my attention and I turned around to find my dog, a still growing Samoyed that wasn't exactly mine, looking at me through the window of my apartment that was above the shop.  
"Guard the house Marsh" I shouted up at it, or tried to as I held my car keys in my mouth. I knew that the odds of the little guy taking down any burglar was far out but it was a ritual that just sort of stuck when we got him.

And now we were at the hard part, opening the car door. I tried to expertly drop my keys into my hands but they unfortunately missed and dropped onto the curb below me.

"Awesome" I sighed.

* * *

"Where am I supposed to park?" I said out loud as I pulled into the police station. Honestly did they have guest parking? I didn't really wanna test that out and possibly get a ticket for stealing someones parking spot so I parked on the curb and put way to much in the parking meter just to be safe.

"Ok I got this, I got this" I told myself as I pushed the front door open with my back taking everything step by step to make sure I didn't drop the cupcakes and also trying to be very secretive in case the recipient of them was in the building.

_Hopefully this doesn't look to sketchy_ I thought not wanting to have to deal with having my food be thoroughly checked. My slow steps didn't benefit me though when it came to shouting across the room at an officer to hold the elevator open for me, which then lead to it shutting right as I stepped in front of it. Trying to put a lot of faith into my balance I kicked the up button and waited...and waited...and waited. With a satisfying ding the doors slid open and I stepped in glad to have the elevator to myself.

"I need to work out more" I huffed as my arms surprisingly began to hurt now from carrying the cupcakes. Finally I made it to the secret hiding place, which turned out to be quite the swank (yes I say swank don't judge) place. It was on office built like a sun room that gave you the whole view of the city.

"Hello?" I asked, as I spun around looking for anyone. There was no answer. I placed the container on what I assumed was a desk and rubbed my arms to get some feeling back into them.

_Ok now leave so you're not being rude_ a part of me thought, but another wanted to take on last look out the window.

_Nope there's nothing that'll be worse then getting caught and being none as that weird nosey cupcake chick who sneaks around peoples office's_ I had to remind myself and with that I spun around bumped into a guy.

_CRAP_ I realized as I backed up immediately.  
"I'm so sorry" I apologized brushing myself off as I glanced up to see a guy that was absolutely adorable.  
"Iris told me I could drop these off in here. There for Eddie it's their anniversary or something but she said you'd be ok with it" I quickly summarized for the guy so he wouldn't think I wasn't snooping.  
"Oh yeah" he finally replied with a nod stepping to the side letting me through.  
"Nice office by the way" I told him as I began to walk out.  
"Thanks" he said with a smile. Out of my peripheral vision I saw a name plate and suddenly everything connected.  
"Oh you're Barry" I realized out loud.  
"Yes, that is me" he agreed.  
"Sorry I've heard loads about you, just never met you I'm River" I introduced myself.  
"You're River" he realized.  
"Yes, that is me" I copied him.  
"Same with me, well obviously" he replied. The elevator dinged as our mutual friend stepped into the office with a pep in her step.  
"Hey you two finally met each other!" Iris smiled at us.

**Sorry if that was like super cheesy and like super short but tell me what you think and have a lovely day. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Quick warning this will be another very short chapter but just wanted to put a chapter two out there just for the heck of it. **

_The sudden lack of movement is what woke me up. I felt like I had a stuffed up nose, like I always do when I wake up. Most likely I had fallen asleep after we left our little hotel room for the day. The apartment was being fixed up. I kind of liked it though it was like being Annie minus the whole orphan situation. The bright sun blinded me as I sat up straighter in the back of our car trying to wake myself up. Where were we? _

_"Momma?" I asked through a yawn and realized I was alone. A gust of wind catches my attention through the open car window and I glance through it to see we are parked in front of a house and my mom is talking to a tall African American man, he looks nice. I think have seen him before from Fourth of July maybe, or momma's birthday? Both have relaxed faces and smiles as they talk to each other, not exactly happy ones but ones that are just there. It's hard to imagine my mom not smiling. They both look at me now and wave as they catch me staring. I feel a sense of comfort as I notice the light in my mom's blue eyes as she waves at me, her brown hair is tied up in a ponytail. People say we look alike well accept for the fact that I'm a lot shorter than her at the moment and I have much lighter colored hair like I guess my dad did. Whoever that is. _

_I wave back a bit confused still about why we were here and suddenly a little girl of my age appears in the doorway. She looks nervous as she tightens the straps of small backpack around her shoulders. She must be the man's daughter. My mom talks to her and the next thing I know they're coming to the car and the man is waving goodbye to us. My mom opens my door and smiles at me.  
"Scoot over sweetie" she says and I quickly undo my seat belt and scoot over as the girl sits next to both smile at each other and are silent for a moment as my mom starts the car. _

_"River, this is Iris" my mom introduces us as she takes a glance at us through the rear view mirror.  
"Hi" I whisper a bit shy at her.  
"Hi" she says back with a bit more confidence then me.  
"Me and her momma were good friends. So I thought you two should meet and hang out every now and then" she explains. We both nod at her unison and then giggle at the gesture. Now we seem more comfortable with each other. I can tell my mom is smiling now.  
"How does pizza sound as a start?"  
"YES" Iris exclaims enthusiastically._

_"YES" I cheer with her, now that the ice has seem to have broken between us. _

_"Well ladie's since it is Tuesday" my mom smirks as she turns on the radio and a loud electric guitar plays through the car.  
"What's this?" Iris shouted._

_"Asia she plays it every Tuesday" I shout back.  
"What's that?"  
"I'm not really sure it has something do with the heat of the moment?"_

Barry and I stand now looking at Iris in awkward silence as she moves her eyes between the two of us with the hugest smile on her face. Something weird is going on here.  
"Ok I can't take it anymore" she sighs as she walks to where I just placed the cupcakes and gives the plate to Barry.  
"SURPRISE" she exclaims.  
"Ummmmm thank you?" Barry accepts them and seems even more confused now, trying to look at me for some reasoning behind this. I just give him a shrug because I am just as confused as he is.

"They're for you. We never really got a chance to celebrate you waking up from a coma so surprise! I got you cupcakes and a longer lunch break!" Iris explained now.

_Ok making a bit more sense now_ I thought. A genuine smile breaks out on Barry's face now.  
"Iris you didn't have to besides things are kinda piling up"  
"It's not like the dead people are exactly going anywhere with their DNA" I accidentally blurt out and Iris holds back a chuckle at the comment as I quickly cover my mouth.  
"I really hope that wasn't offensive" I tell him as he luckily smiles at my small joke. Phew saved myself on that one there.  
"It's not just dead people there's other things that I deal with" he explains.  
"Cool, well I mean what you do not the crime that's bad" I mumble and quickly scrunch my eyebrows as words just seem to spew out of my mouth.  
"I'm ramble just ignore me" I apologize for myself.  
"It's a role reversal for him" Iris jokes.  
"Thank you by the way" he says to her.  
"Well I didn't really make them but you're welcome" she says gesturing towards me. I feel a bit awkward now as I seem to be intruding on this special friendship moment so I start to head out.  
"Enjoy them. I'll just be heading back now, nice meeting you Barry" I tell him and quicker than I would've believed anyone could accomplish in a pair of heels, Iris is in front of me blocking my exit.  
"Why don't you come to lunch with us?" she suggests.  
_OH no please don't have this be heading where I think this is heading? _I thought as I began to internally use my detective skills at the moment.

"Come on it's pizza" she whispered to me.  
"You sure?" I ask her.  
"Barry's totally ok with it" she says without asking him.  
"You two will get along great, come on we need to hang out more. I wanna make sure you're ok as well" she adds giving my hand a sympathetic squeeze.

_Crap she's tapped my weakness and I'm hungry. Screw it I'm getting pizza out of this it'll be worth it and maybe I'm wrong _I debated.

"Fine" I sighed over dramatically with a smile on my face.  
"Great the four of us are going to have an awesome time" Iris said a bit louder then I thought might be necessary.  
"Four?" Barry asked, pausing as he slid on his jacket.

_Crap I'm right. I didn't want to be right, darn you slightly psychic powers that don't really exist_ ,_ the pizza ain't worth it anymore_ I realized as a very attractive blonde guy walked into the office now and slid his arm around Iris's waist.  
"Hey babe" he says to her and kisses her on the cheek making her giggle. Barry and I both unleash very unenthusiastic sighs as the realization of what's actually going on comes down on us. I try to telepathically tell him that I had no clue this was going to happen.  
"Come on" Iris chirps, clearly shes the only one excited about all of this.

**Again I hope this wasn't too cheesy and I hope you enjoyed this soon things will be getting more interesting it'll just be once I'm on break but have a lovely day guys. **


	3. Chapter 3

_"Are your eye's closed?" __my mom asked as she led me into the street. I squinted my eyes open a bit to cheat but still nodded. I didn't see much, it was too bright outside to make out anything through squinted eyes on this warm spring afternoon._

_"I saw that, you cheater" she laughed and I stuck my tongue out at her.  
"Go on open them" she said. I opened them and just found us standing in front of our shared two story apartment building. I looked at my mom for some sort of hint at what was going on. She looked as excited as I did on Christmas morning._

_"We can go home now?" I asked questioningly. She had made no secret of that, I had seen her packing this morning.  
"Well aren't you gonna go through the front door?" she asked me as she got down onto my level. I gave her a look and then made my way to the side stairs but turned around to find her looking at me with a huge smile on her face. I went onto the first step and then she quickly got up and grabbed me around the middle as she lifted me off the stairs and redirected me.  
_

_"Not that front door you goober" she joked as she made me laugh at the suddenness of being lifted off the ground.__ She had wanted me to make that mistake.  
"This is our new front door" she explained as she plopped me down in front of the door to the first floor's apartment. _

_"What?" I asked as I opened the door to find the first floor completely empty of almost any furniture and pink! There was a counter in the middle of the room and a display case.  
"I bought it, this place is ours River! Two floors all to ourselves! We went to the hotel so people could fix it up!" my mom said as she followed me in.  
"What are we going to do with it?" I asked her as she picked me up and placed me on the counter so I could get a better view of the place.  
"I'm going to make stuff here. This is going to be my new job, but now what to make?" she pondered humorously.  
"Any idea's River?" she asked of me.  
"Really?" I asked her and she nodded.  
"Hmmmm" I said copying her gesture by placing my chin in my hands and pursed my lips to the side.  
"Cupcakes" I decided with a nod of finality.  
"Cupcakes! I love it"  
"We'll make cupcakes. Just you and me River. And you know what?"_

_"What?"  
"They'll be just as sweet as you" she decided as she hopped on the counter with me. I giggled at the cheesiness of her comment._

"Well it looks, like we're on a fun double date this afternoon! How can I help you?" the way to peppy waitress, who wasn't able to read body language, asked. Barry and I probably looked like we were being held against our will as we sat at the table with the cheesy rom com couple across from us. It's not like they were having intense PDA in front of us, but god it was all to cutesy for me, and that's coming from someone who loves a good Jane Austen film.

"Actually it's a waking up from a coma celebration meal thing" I corrected her. She gave me a look and then quickly corrected herself.

"Sorry it's just-"  
"We're not" Barry and I said in unison. Well at least we agreed on something.  
"Ok then?"

_You're just being like this cause you don't want to be here_ I told myself. With my peripheral vision I could tell Barry was feeling as uncomfortable as I was about this. Luckily we seemed to be good sports about this though when it came to our friendship with Iris, and we were just going along with it.  
_There's no way I could even be an acquaintance with him, he's way to smart _I pondered as I tried to understand how Iris assumed that Barry and I could possibly get along much less attempt to set us up on a blind date. I'm not downsizing myself and calling myself stupid I know things, I just take things at face value instead of trying to learn more, unless I really need to know. This guy seemed as if he could absorb almost any information like a sponge.  
"I'm good with pepperoni are you guys good with that?" Iris's voice brought me back to reality.

"Yeah, totally" I agreed. The other two guys nodded and the waitress finally went away. Iris leaned back in her chair and let out a sigh. I was seriously hoping that she would notice she was the main conversation starter in our little group because I was way to shy to say something. Most likely I'd say something stupid like:  
_"So you were in a coma, what was that like Barry?"_

_"Erm dark"_

_"No way_"

"So how have you been doing since you reopened?" Iris asked me. I gave her a look of thanks for getting any sort of conversation started.  
"It's been a bit slow. Luckily we had some loyal customers that understood what was going on that didn't ditch us. Also I'm catering a couple birthdays" I told her.  
"River, just got back from a trip around the world" Iris explained to Eddie and Barry.

"Not like the whole world that would've taken forever just hopping from city to city" I nodded and laughed at my own joke but was met with silence.

"Barry travels too. Before the coma he went to Sterling City" Iris pointed out and went silent. It was almost as if she was silently saying _ Discuss_ to the two of us.  
"Not as exciting as the whole world" he admitted.  
"I'm sure it's plenty exciting, 'It's not the destination it's the journey" I told him as I quoted my mom and then cringed.

"Oh god I just sounded super cheesy right there" I realized and he chuckled at that.  
"You should put that on a pillow" Eddie joked.

"I did actually and it's next to my kitten poster that say's "hang in there" so take that" I joked back as my shyness was slowly fading away now. The waitress came by with some water's and straws. Within seconds of obtaining her straw Iris opened it up and blew the wrapper at me.  
"You are a child" I told her as she laughed when it hit me straight in the face. Barry and I both looked between each other now and quickly did the same with our straws as Iris and Eddie began talking to each other and caught her by surprise.  
"You guys are mean" Iris laughed as both wrappers hit her.  
"Evil geniuses more like it" Barry told her.  
"Next time you want two mutual friends to meet keep in mind that they can both gang up on you because we know how to annoy you" I reminded her.  
"Yeah well my boyfriend can arrest you" Iris joked back.

"You won't get any cupcakes from me then because I'll be in jail"  
"Crap you're right" and we both laughed at that.

"By the way, sorry guys this is girl talk for a sec so you can space out if you want, you're eyeliner looks amazing today" I complimented her.

"Thank you"  
"Actually you don't have to exclude us because I was going to say the same thing" Barry put in.  
"I mean seriously how do you do it?" he joked and I nearly had water come out of my nose. It wasn't a good sight and I'm really glad no one saw that.

_Ok I can kind of see it now, how we could get along_ I thought until I noticed something. Iris was laughing at his joke and Barry had this soft look about him as he watched her laugh and his eyes seemed to light up.

_Of course_ I realized. Hang on I'm feeling deflated. Why should I, I didn't want to be on this sort of thing in the first place and besides she just wanted us to be friends she didn't exactly say we had to date each other.

"Yes finally" Iris sighed as the pizza arrived. We were silent as we ate and I was ok with that because once you give me pizza and I'm starving I'm probably lost to you.

"Well I could gladly go take a nap now" I yawned as I finished up. Iris gave me a look and I gave her one back.  
"I'll be back. River?" she said raising an eyebrow at me.

"I'll come with you" I told her getting what she was saying. We both walked to the bathroom and the minute the door closed she playfully punched me on the shoulder.

"Ah look at you guys, you're getting along" she said in a slightly high pitched voice.  
"Calm down" I laughed at her over excitement.  
"Ok I'm calm, I'm calm" she said as she leaned against the sink.

"Be honest with me?" I asked of her.  
"Of course"

"Was this a blind double date?" she hesitated for a moment and that's all I needed to know.  
"No it isn't! I just wanted you two meet" she tried to come up with an excuse

"You hesitated!"

"Ok maybe it was but I mean it's not like I want you two to make out by the end of the night" I let out a sigh and blushed at the thought.

"Are you ok with this?" she asked.  
"I didn't like you throwing this on me"

"But you had fun?"  
"A bit I mean it's kind of awkward" I mumbled as I looked down at my shirt and straightened it out.

"First date's always are" she joked.  
"Shut up" I laughed at her. We both fixed our hair and walked out to find Barry and Eddie waiting for us.

"I paid for the bill. We got called in, they think there was a murder at the local gardening store" Eddie explained to Iris.

"Be safe" she told him as she hugged him. Barry and I looked at each other.  
"This was fun" I simply stated.

"Yeah, it was nice meeting you" he nodded.  
"Same" He held his hand out as I began to go in for a hug but then we paused.  
"We'll meet halfway and fist bump" I joked holding my fist up.

"Got it" he agreed as we fist bumped and I immediately regretted suggesting that idea.

"Nice meeting you Eddie" I nodded at him as they left. Iris and I stood there for a second.

"Did you two seriously fist bump?" Iris asked me and I could tell she was holding back laughter.

* * *

"You're late" Joe said to Barry as he showed up on the scene to find his foster Father heading back to his car.  
"Am I ever early?" he pointed out.  
"Wouldn't hurt you for once since you do have, I don't know, super speed" Joe reminded him. Barry looked down at his feet to hide his smile. It was never good to smirk at a crime scene.  
"Where you going?" Barry asked him, noticing that the detective seemed to be leaving the scene.  
"I'm not going to work this case, it's to personal" he admitted.  
"Why, who's the victim?"  
"It's a friend of Iris's, her name's River. It's been awhile since I last saw her, but that's definitely her" he explained his voice wavering a bit.  
"Wait what?" Barry asked feeling confused all of the sudden.  
"That can't be. Eddie and I just had lunch with her and Iris" Barry explained.

"You sure?" Joe asked.  
"Let me check this out" Barry told him as he walked into the crime scene and climbed under the yellow tape into the charred looking garden store. There had been a fire here. The body lay just at the front of the entrance, like the person had made an attempt to get out of the store before taking their final breath. It had been flipped over for better viewing and he saw that it was definitely a female. She had shoulder length, dyed black hair, and that was the only difference between her and River. Other than that they were identical.  
"Does she have a twin?" Barry asked as he quickly joined back with Joe, who looked much more relieved now.  
"Nope, only child" He answered.  
"There's something going on here I think. Something that involves, my type of people" Barry put subtext into his words.

"What makes you say that?"

"The fire seems too controlled because you said it was gone when you got here right? Shouldn't there still be smoke if it was so recent? The plants around here are weird too, some of them look overgrown and there's dirt everywhere" he pointed out.  
"But you can't be sure?"  
"I can't but part of me has a gut feeling that if whoever did this see's River-"  
"I'm on it" Joe cut him off as he began calling the woman in question now.

* * *

The rain began to pour now as I sat at one of the tables in my shop and talked to Marsh as he sat on the ground looking at me with a smile on his face and a wagging tail.  
"It was so awkward Marsh, you wouldn't believe it" I told him as I picked him up and placed him in my lap. He licked me.  
"Maybe I should just stay single for the rest of my life and we can just be together like two buddies. What do you say to that you little fuzzball?" I suggested. The air seemed to get colder now and I could practically see my breath. What the hell was going on with the weather.  
"Sorry" I apologized to Marsh as I placed him down. He followed me to the thermostat as I turned it on. My phone went off in my back pocket and I saw the caller ID. My heartbeat seemed to quicken as I saw who it was. This might make me sound a bit paranoid but I always get a bit freaked out on the rare occasion when Joe calls me, due to his job, because I always think that when he calls something bad is going on.  
"Hello?" I asked as I answered it.  
"River?" Joe's voice said on the other line and it sounded a bit worried. That didn't make me feel any better.  
"Yeah, what's up" I tried to stay calm.  
"Are you at home?" he asked. Oh god this phone call isn't going to end well, I could feel.  
"Yeah, I am I was about to close up. Is something wrong?" I asked him. I suddenly felt a pair of eyes boring into me and I turned to the front window to find a girl,of about my age, in a hoodie staring at me as she waited to cross the street. There was something strange about her that made me feel a bit scared, but I turned away thinking she would just go away.

"Nothing major, just wanted to tell you to stay inside for awhile ok?" he advised sounding a bit too calm. The girl was crossing the street now and heading for my store. There was something about her movements that made her look like she had to accomplish something. I didn't have enough time to run to the door and lock it.  
"Joe, listen what you're saying is making me paranoid so let me just say that someone is coming in that's kind of creepy, you don't have to do anything major but I'm keeping you on the line just in case" I whispered quickly as I placed my phone back in my pocket. The girl in the hoodie came in and took her hood off. Her hair was platinum blonde and her face looked exactly like mine. A menacing smile came crossed her face as she took in my shock.  
"It's River isn't it?" she asked.

**OOOOO there we go there's chp 3 I hope you liked it and review if you did. Thank you guys soo much for last chapter's reviews. Have a lovely day!**


	4. Chapter 4

_I stood by my mom's bedside watching her sleep and was debating about what I was going to do. Part me really wanted to talk to her about this and the other didn't want to have her be angry with me for waking her. I decided to wake her, knowing that if I got this off my chest I could go to sleep and be ready for tomorrow.  
__"Mom" I whispered poking her back. She turned over and looked at me all sleepy eyed.  
__"What's wrong?" she asked through a yawn as she scooted over and let me sit with her. _

_"I can't go to sleep I'm to nervous about tomorrow" I told her the truth.  
"Summer camp with Iris?" she asked. I gave her a nod.  
"You guys will have so much fun though, why are you scared?" I thought over my reasons until I choose the right wording to explain my concerns. _

_"I'm going to be alone and by myself and it's just...what if no one likes me? I'm not cool there's nothing special about me" I told her the truth.  
"I think you're special"  
"I mean I'm not sporty, I can't dance, or sing. And what if Iris makes a new friend and ditches me I mean we don't see each other that often so I could be a guilt free ditch person and-"  
_

_"River" my mom cut off my rambling.  
"Ok you listen here. It doesn't matter if you can't do those things and you know what they're not that awesome of skill anyways. Lots of people play sports and sing and dance. How many of them live in a cupcake shop and can say they broke a valuable artifact at a museum once" she joked and made reference back to our trip to a small art museum where I may have tipped over a vase from the Victorian times but actually breaking it had proved it to be a fake.  
"As for Iris don't worry about that. If she didn't like you, you guys wouldn't be going together ok? All that matters is that you be yourself because that's the one I like" she said. I looked at her and smiled sheepishly.  
"Ok?" she asked again. I nodded.  
"Now let's go to sleep" she yawned as we laid down now. _

The girl chuckled at me as I couldn't seem to respond.  
"This never get's old. The look on your face. Well our's I mean" she corrected herself. The more I seemed to stare at her the more I started to notice very subtle differences. She was much paler than me, even though I'm already pale myself, but her's was almost like the color my skin get's in the winter when I haven't seen the sun in awhile, except her cheeks didn't turn a pinkish color from the chill. Her hair was platinum blonde but it was obviously dyed as I could see the light brown roots of her, or well I guess my original hair color, start to grow in. It was almost as if she wanted that to be the main difference between us. The eyes were the most intriguing part about her although they were a light blue like mine they seemed to fade to a lighter color closer to her pupils. Somehow her looks seemed to be assimilating to some sort of environment or element. Speaking of the environment had it gotten colder in here? The display case was even beginning to mist up and I could see my breath now.  
"Hello?" the girl sang trying to get my attention. I looked at her and got a shiver down my spine, something was just off about her. Marsh growled at her and she sneered.  
"That's cute" she sneered nudging him to the side with her foot.  
_Remember nothing bad can happen you have a freakin' cop on the line _I reminded myself and felt a sense of relief at that.  
"Sorry about him and the um temperature in here. The rain must be putting it off. Can I help you?" I asked, just giving her the same spiel I would give any customer.

"I'm here to talk to you actually. By now I'm sure you've noticed something about the two of us" she explained and she looked annoyed at my lack of notice. I felt pride in that. If I had to play stupid to annoy her and get her to leave then that's what I would do.  
"No but, are you here for a party you want me to cater?" I asked.

"Play ditzy all you want, things still aren't going to end well for you if you don't cooperate" she threatened. Marsh came over to me and I noticed my backpack I substituted for a purse from time to time hidden in a little hole underneath the counter by the register. It wasn't that far of a grab, if I reached down to it from my spot by the display case. If I was quick about it I could stuff him in and make a run for it, most likely I could take her down, she didn't seem to be holding any weapons. And if she's exactly like me then I definitely know where to hit hard  
"If we're gonna talk I might as well put on a jacket is that ok?" I asked tring to put as much attitude behind that as I could but heard my voice crack a bit.

"_Wimp"_ I heard her mutter under he breath as she nodded and rolled her eyes at me. I leaned down towards the backpack and opened it up. I beckoned to Marsh to get in. Obediently he came over, thank god he hadn't grown a lot recently, and I fit him in then told him to shh as I closed it up.  
"You found it yet?" she asked.

"Just a second I thought it was around here" I made up an excuse, albeit a lame one but she stayed where she was. I slyly slid the backpack over my back and adjusted to the weight for a second. While doing that I searched around for a weapon of some sort but was cut short. It was most likely going to have to be a run to the door.  
_Ok you can do this_ I told myself as I took a breath. Without hesitating I let my adrenaline kick in and quickly got up and ran for it pushing the girl out of the way with as much force as I could muster, by shoving my elbow into her side, as I passed by her. I heard her bump into one of the tables, but didn't look back as the door was just steps away. The suddenly floor came out from under me as I slipped and fell onto my side sliding a bit on some cold surface. A pain went through my ankle and I saw that I had most likely sprained it as I couldn't get up. Marsh made a noise in my bag, but I knew he was ok, if I had landed on my back that would've been a cause for worry. The moisture beneath my hands made me notice I was laying on a patch of ice. I looked up to find the girl standing over me.  
"Nice try" she smirked and with a flick of her hand ice flew out of it and flowed up the door. I could practically hear the locks freezing now. I backed up using my hands to get away from her and tried to get up.  
"Come on show me what you've got" she taunted following me and stepping on my ankle to stop me from moving. I let out a gasp of pain and tried to use my other foot to kick out at her, but that did nothing.  
"What? Did you forget how to use them?" she laughed.

"Use what? I don't know what you're talking about, why are you here?" I snapped at her through gritted teeth. She finally seemed to realize something.  
"You don't have any. You know what that makes you?" she asked me.  
"Very confused and pissed off" I said.  
"You're the original sweetie" she answered.

* * *

"The line cut off" Joe turned to Barry as he put his phone away.  
"I'll go now" Barry nodded at him, he had been listening in on the call with him.  
"Don't suit up, you go in there all done up it might make things worse and make the assailant freak out. Just pretend to be yourself and see if you can get her out of there without anything bad happening. I don't think she went in there with the intention to kill" Joe advised him.  
"Where does she work?" Barry asked. Joe gave him the address and taking a leap of faith in Joe's professionalism Barry obeyed and found himself in front of the little shop. The weather had somehow practically turned into a downpour. The door was all fogged up and when he went to touch the handle it was so cold it nearly burned his hand.

_Definitley Metahuman _he realized_._ With a quick jiggle and some elbow grease he managed to wedge it open.

* * *

"What does that even mean?" I asked the girl. She was cut off as the front door opened and surprisingly Barry was standing in the doorway. The girl looked very confused at the sight.  
"What's going on here?" Barry asked trying to look dumbstruck at the sight before, but part of me knew this had to be a sign that help was on the way.

_Well this will be awkward. _I realized as I came up with a plan.

"Barry" I tried to say in a distressed voice to draw her attention. It didn't matter what she was going to think all that mattered was that she was distracted. The girl looked between the two of us and quickly took her foot off my ankle, I felt a sense of relief as the pain seemed to dull a bit, and she took a step back.  
"Come on in we were just getting to know each other" she smiled at him and he slowly stepped towards me.  
"I can't get up, my ankle" I whispered to him in a feigned sad whisper. The girl's smile seemed to grow now at my signs of weakness. He put an arm around my waist as he helped me up and get into a standing position. The girl quickly closed and froze the door shut again.

"This is the first time I've met one of us with a special someone" she joked looking at the two of us. The air seemed to get colder again and the girl's hand turned a slight blueish color. She was about to attack again.  
"I guess that means one more casualty if this doesn't work out" she sighed as a ball of blue energy floated above her palm.  
"Grab onto me" Barry advised. Knowing there wasn't enough time to ask why I threw my hands around his neck as I was lifted off the ground. Everything happened so quickly and it felt like the world was pressing down on me, I couldn't breath. Then it stopped, and I realized I was in a much warmer place right now. It took a second for my eyes to adjust but I saw wewere in a lab of some sort.  
"Barry?" I heard this female voice ask in the distance as I was slowly set down.  
"What?! WHAT?! WHAT?!" was all I could say and I hate to admit it my voice was getting incredibly high at what just happened. Marsh barked in my bag and I quickly set him down to let him out. The quick movement set me off a bit and I felt dizzy, in fact my vision was actually getting a bit hazy and all I could make out now were two figures in front of us.  
"Hey, you didn't set this her on fire like you did with Felicity" a male voice went off in the distance. Oh god I can't breath and now there's a weird pounding I can feel in my head.

"Let's just introduce your secret identity to my grandma next then? I mean if we're going to show off who you are to every other person it'll be no big deal" a female voice sighed.

"Crap I think I'm fainting" I blurted out as I leaned against Barry now not really caring anymore about personal space, I felt like I was on fire.  
"Well obviously you would especially if that was unexpected. Speed does that to people sometimes. You see it most often with those fighter pilots that do air shows" the female voice replied as if she needed to prove herself as a slight know it all.  
"Awesome" I sighed as I finally blacked out.

**Yay I hope you liked that and please review if you did also special thanks to those who have reviewed, followed, and favorited this story it means a lot. And a special special thanks to Just Watch me Fly for their a good day everyone! Also just putting this in here my face claim for River is the adorable Elizabeth Lail!**


	5. Chapter 5

**This is random and I know i'm to young to be saying this probably but I just saw a video on youtube that said vintage disney california adventure videos 2001 and I'm like vintage what the heck that didn't happen that long ago don't call it that you're making me feel old!**

_"Oh god this is disgusting! I just can't. I've seen it before, but I just can't" I said as my mom and I sat on the couch in our little hotel room watching Temple of Doom, it was on the infamous dinner scene. It had been an early morning for the both of us as we woke up on the final day of a team trip we were taking for a school volleyball tournament. Instead of trying to go back to sleep my mom and I made use of the very limited tv channels and came across an Indiana Jones marathon.  
"Riv what's the time?"_ _My mom asked looking around for the small digital clock in our room. I followed her line of sight and saw that it was 9 am. I let out a little groan as I realized I had to get dressed for a team bonding breakfast that I was in no mood for attending. After spending hours upon hours with my teammates these past couple days, I was honestly a bit done with the whole team bonding experience. You can only spend so much time with school friends before losing your patience with them and finding every single thing they do annoying._

_"I don't want to" I said snuggling under the blanket we were sharing._

_"You kinda getting annoyed with these people as well?" my mom seemed to have read my mind. I chuckled and nodded.  
"Same. Too much bonding. There's something about forced socializing that just makes you want to rebel" she told the truth._

_"Right!" I agreed with her. My mom slipped me a sly smile. As if saying to stay put and that she would fix it. We remained on the couch and let time slip away until a knock on the door interrupted our concentration for a moment. _

_"River, just wanted to let you know we're ready to go. Take your time, we just didn't see you and your mom in the parking lot and wanted to let you know" one of my teammate's said on the other side of the door. _

_"Follow my lead" my mom whispered to me. I had to hold back the laughter I always seemed to get when I was forced to lie without preparation. My mom slowly opened the door.  
"Hey, listen I think we're going to have to skip out on breakfast. River's a bit sick" my mom told my teammate, which was my cue to put in a fake cough. I gladly played my part as I unleashed my best fake cough. _

_"Awww ok then. I hope you feel better River" she called back to me, as my mom shut the door. Quickly she hopped back down on the couch and got under the cover's._

_"You're welcome" she sighed, with a satisfied smile on her face. _

_"Thank you" I told her. We were silent for a moment.  
"This is cheesy but mom, you're my favorite person" I tried to say with the utmost sincerity, because it was the truth and there was no other way of saying it.  
"You're mine too" she_ _said. _  
"Hey River, my name's Caitlin can you hear me? If you can, try and give me the alphabet backwards" this slightly muted female voice said as a bright light was shown in my eyes. I didn't seem to have the strength in me to respond at the moment.  
"Dude I can barely say that correctly the normal way" a male voice put in. I felt a bit feverish and my head was hazy.  
"I'm checking to make sure her brain's not fried" she snapped.  
"She ok?" Barry's familiar voice put in.  
"Well it wasn't just your speed that had an after effect on her, you guy's said you were practically in a below freezing environment right?"

There was no answer so I had to guess Barry nodded in response.

"Well due to the fact that she went from a very cold place to somewhere with a higher temperature she may have just suffered a minor heat stroke with the addition to being exposed to that much speed" she explained.

"I think I'm gonna be sick" I told the truth and was absolutely embarrassed about it as my vision came back to find three faces looking down at me. I had already fainted in front of them and had no intentions to puke in front of them as well.  
"Good morning" the owner to the male voice greeted me.  
"That also happens, you just need to keep hydrated" the owner to the female voice, Caitlin advised. The next thing I knew there was a small rush of wind and Barry suddenly had a bottle of water in hand. I slowly sat up and took it. I noticed I was in some sort of medical room. After some very unflattering gulps of water I focused back on the people surrounding me.

"Thanks" I nodded at Barry giving him a small smile, and he nodded back looking relieved.

"How long was I out?" I asked them and felt less feverish now.  
"10, maybe 15 minutes at the most" Caitlin assumed.

"I will let you know that I'm not normally the fainting type so let me just inform you right now that I am..." I trailed off.  
" I had a point to that sentence I really did and now I just forgot how to end it" I told the truth.  
"You should drink some more, you'll probably need more than just the one. I'll go get you some" Caitlin told me then she looked at the guy and then Barry, who looked like he actually needed to talk with me.  
"Cisco, come on with me" She told him. Cisco gave her a confused look.  
"Can't Barry just do his whole back in a flash thing. Oh hey" Cisco chuckled at what he just said, as if it was an inside joke. Caitlin nearly dragged him out by the arm.

"I don't think they're actually off to get me water" I told the truth. Wow having a heat stroke made me have no filter.  
"They probably aren't since I have the whole pack right here" Barry joked, lightly kicking something with his foot. I looked down and saw the pack at his feet.  
"When? how?" I just cut myself off with another sip of water, so I could try and get my head straight.  
"Why'd they leave?" I asked him, and scooted over as he shyly took a spot next to me on my little hospital bed.

"To make sure nothing is going to go wrong, while we talk. They know that you'll be able to talk more with someone you know, instead of two scientists you just met" he explained. I gave him a look.  
"I think you're completely harmless. But until they get some test's done, they just want to be cautious"

"Why would they have to be? I'm about as threatening as a bunny, and not the Monty Python one" I put in and cringed at my lame reference. Thankfully Barry gave it a small laugh, making me feel a bit better.

"Well the Snow Queen we met back there, isn't the first person we've seen like this. And considering the two of you look alike there's a chance you could be like her. They'll most likely have to run some tests on you"

None of it really made sense. To be honest it seemed insane that I had practically just met Barry this afternoon and now he had saved my life.  
"They can do what they want as long as you tell me what the hell is going on here"

**Hello sorry that was so short but I just wanted to put something out there since I haven't written in a while there is going to be a big break again till I probably put out another chapter and I need some honest opinion here, should I continue this? I'm kinda losing inspiration but like I really wanna finish something and I don't really know how to end this like I have an idea I just don't know how it'll work out but I'm also like behind on the show and yeah ahhh I don't know tell me what you think but I hope you like what I had. I hope you all had a safe and happy holidays!**


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